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Philippines: Four dead as storm hits Mindanao island

At least four people were killed after the tropical storm Sanba landed in the east coast of the southern of Mindanao (Illustrative photo: Xinhua/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – At least four people were killed after the tropical storm Sanba landed in the east coast of the southern of Mindanao, the second largest island of the Philippines, on February 13, with gusts of 75 kilometres an hour. Heavy rain brought by Storm Sanba triggered landslides that hit mountain villages outside the town of Carrascal, 760 kilometres south of the capital Manila. Some areas are currently inaccessible, thus the extent of damage is yet to be known. The state weather service said the storm was expected to move northwest over the next 24 hours, bringing moderate to heavy rain across the central Philippines. The Philippines is struck by 20 storms or typhoons each year on average, some of them deadly. Sanba is already the second major system to hit this year. In December 2017, tropical storm Tembin caused floods and landslides and isolated a remote village in Mindanao. The storm killed 240 people just one week after dozens of lives were claimed and more than 20 people went missing when storm Kai Tak landed in the central Philippines. The deadliest storm on record is super typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,350 people dead or missing across the central Philippines in November 2013.-VNA